As wishful “Draft Mitch Daniels” talk resurfaces yet again, this time to bail out the Republican Party in the face of a Donald Trump presidential nomination, the Purdue University president and former Indiana governor said Tuesday that he didn’t have much to add to the conversation.

In fact, Daniels said through university spokeswoman Julie Rosa, he “falls somewhere along the lines of half Gen. Sherman and half Sgt. Schultz on the topic.”

Breaking it down, you don’t have to work hard to read between the lines.

Civil War Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman greeted the possibility of being considered as a Republican candidate in 1884 by famously saying: “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected.”

Sgt. Schultz, the bumbling World War II German officer in the ‘60s sit-com “Hogan’s Heroes,” greeted things he preferred not to deal with by repeating: “I see nothing, and I know nothing!”

In other words, Daniels is still the president of Purdue University and will be for the time being.

Daniels, of course, backed away from a presidential run in 2012 after seriously considering it at the end of his second term as governor. Daniels came to Purdue with a 5½-year commitment in January 2013, the same day he handed the keys to the governor’s office to Mike Pence. In 2015, the Purdue trustees extended Daniels’ contract through June 2020. (When that deal was announced in October, Daniels said, “If I had any intention of going elsewhere, I wouldn’t have done this.”)

But that hasn’t kept people from salivating over dragging Daniels back in.

Over the weekend, Politico detailed the discontent of some in the Indiana Republican Party about sending Hoosier delegates to the convention with obligations to back Trump. The story had two quick reactions: 1. State GOP Chairman Jeff Cardwell was compelled to issue a statement that Indiana’s delegates would abide by the voice of Hoosier voters in the May 3 primary. 2. Some delegates said they were threatened by Trump fans, an accusation the Indiana State Police investigated. On Wednesday, state police said the actions didn't amount to criminal activity.

This is a replay, in a way, of early 2015, when Daniels’ name was floated as a possible challenger for Pence in the 2016 governor’s race. That rumor had legs when Bill Oesterle, former campaign manager for Daniels’ first campaign, started hinting that he was working on that plan out of frustration over how Pence had handled controversy over the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

At that time, Daniels was emphatic: “Nope, nope, nope, nope. … You guys either never pay attention or listen. I’ve said this for years: Governor was the only job I was ever running for. … Sooner or later, you’ll figure out that when I say these things, I mean them.”

Mike Berghoff, chairman of the Purdue Trustees, said he gets the attention Daniels draws – for better or for worse for the university.

“In general, I believe it brings positive attention to the university, and many of our alumni tell me they wish he'd run for president,” Berghoff said. “Glad to have him in West Lafayette, but I'd have to say country edges out alma mater.”

Is all this talk getting distracting from the work he wants to get done at Purdue? Or is it just business as usual for a guy who probably will never shake those aspirations – even if they are the aspirations of others?

Daniels isn’t saying, beyond doing his best Sgt. Schultz. For now, back to work at Purdue’s Hovde Hall.